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Digestive System Warm Greetings to you all, Today, if I may, I would like to invite you to explore the journey of food through our digestive tract, bearing in mind that we can give names to the various enzyme interactions, and to the catalysts that accompany food absorption. However, no one can fully understand the transformation of an apple, for example, into the cells that make up the brain, propels our body or awakens our consciousness From a purely physiological point of view, nutrition can be described by the mechanical and chemical actions of the body upon the food ingested. Notice that the body is active and the food passive; the body acts upon the food , food does not act upon the body. Food enters the body through the mouth and exits through the anus, it undergoes digestion ( from the mouth to the stomach), absorption ( from the stomach to the small intestine), and elimination ( from the large intestine, or colon, to the anus ) In most cases, these three stages of food processing take place in a total of about 24 hours in a relatively healthy individual. This journey takes place in what is on average 4.6 m (over 15 feet) of elasticized tubing ( which includes the esophagus, stomach & intestines) is said to be continuous with the with the outside environment. That is, there is one entrance from the outside world to the food tube ( the mouth ) and one exit ( the anus ) with no other outlet inside the body proper. Food in this tube ( usually called the gastrointestinal tract ) is technically considered to be outside the body. As food passes through this tube, it may be partially absorbed by the body. At any time, the food itself may be rushed back out through the mouth ( vomiting ) or quickly expelled through the anus (diarrhea). This is the reason that man can seemingly eat anything. His digestive-absorptive-eliminative tract, or tube, actually holds the ingested food outside the body proper. If a healthy person should eat harmful foods, they may be carried through the body to the nearest exit without actually being absorbed or entering into the body from this tube. However, many individuals, through years of improper eating, have degraded the natural power of the body to expel unsuitable foods. Consequently, the body gradually starts to absorb noxious substances from foods, which a healthy organism would reject outright. The gastrointestinal tube is the pathway all food must follow in its process of assimilation. What occurs along this path will be discussed in the next newsletter. We wish you all a wonderful and exciting week. The Crazy Nut team.